The South African born photographer Michelle Sank specialises in portraiture and her work looks into “the preoccupation of the human condition”, meaning that her work includes exploring and developing the main aspects of life, such as birth, growth (emotionally and physically) and conflict. All making up the basics of human existence and are things which every living person will experience throughout our lifetime. Sank documents social and cultural diversity and allows for comparison on the different ways each individual lives their lives with everyone having a different cultural background, ethnic groups and experiences.
Michelle Sank’s Different Project Mood Boards
“These portraits were taken of teenagers in Belfast in a series commissioned by Belfast Exposed Gallery. The remit was to empower these teenagers with a sense of individuality and to locate them within environments which bear no reference to the political struggles or past emblems of this.”
“These images are from a project called In My Skin about young people under the ages of 25 in the UK who are challenging their body image. I am looking at those who have had or are considering having plastic surgery in order to become more acceptable to themselves and achieve their ideal of being beautiful. “
“These images are from a project about Young Carers, children under the age of 18 who are often the main carer for a sick parent or sibling. In addition to performing daily household tasks like washing, bathing, cooking and shopping, they also have to deal with the additional pressures of school. Because they are different, they often are exposed to bullying from Schoolmates and lack a sense of identity as an individual in their own right.”
Her style
- Uses natural lighting
- Subjects focused in the middle of the image
- Background and subject match
- Posed photography (she tells them how to pose)
- Contrast in some images
- Uses a high shutter speed for fully focused images
- Takes images of people
Analysation image
This image was taken from Michelle’s project “In My Skin”. This image is representing the individualism which can be found in different communities.
Technical analysis- The noticeable techniques used to take this image would of included a relatively high exposure as there is little shadowing, shading or overall extreme contrast which is helping to add a freshness to the image, adding a contrast in her dark tattoos and the background image, as well as helping to open up the picture. There also seems to be a good amount of natural light in the picture which is suggesting that very little editing was used, adding a rawness to the image as it isn’t overly edited and helps to again show a difference between her fake tattooed skin and her raw unedited overall picture.
Visual analysis- The subject of ‘In My Skin’ is represented through physical appearance. The most eye-catching part on her appearance is her tattoos in comparison to the simplicity of the background image which is showing that her tattoos don’t define the rest of her appearance which could be seen as ’emo’ but her simple bed room stops people from being able to make assumptions.